NYTs Etiquette - "I Refused to Switch Seats on a Plane. Twice. Was I Wrong?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is on the airline. There should be no situation where a small child is seated away from their parent. But that doesn’t entitle them to a premium seat. Put them in the back with the rest of the families who didn’t want to pay for seats.

+1
Airlines can’t have it both ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't read the article but I have seen the issue come up on various boards. In my opinion, being a family or traveling with kids doesn't entitle you to special treatment. When I travel with my family I pay to pick seats, early check-in, extra space - whatever I think we might need. If you're not willing to pay for that then you can't afford the trip. Other travelers have also paid for those services and they don't owe you anything.

Your thought process is flawed. Only five years ago, these were basic accommodations part of customer experience. Not something you paid extra for. The fact that you think paying extra for them is acceptable is bizarre.

[Anonymous]

I fly later this week to the UK with my 14-year-old. The airline has already changed our flights twice and we don't go to the airport until Friday. In addition to leaving 3 hours earlier on Friday, we are no longer sitting together on the flight back, since our original flight, with seats together that we paid for, is cancelled and no longer on the schedule. We are now in middle seats in different rows. The 14-year-old can obviously fly solo so we will cope, but if she were younger, I would be even more unhappy.

Airlines separated families prior to the pandemic (I have had it happen with aircraft changes and for no apparent reason, all times when we had assigned seats well in advance) and with the instability of flight schedules I bet it happens even more now. While I completely agree that the blame for this falls on the airlines, Mr/Ms Bulkhead and the columnist might consider that this problem is often not the result of "poor planning".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't read the article but I have seen the issue come up on various boards. In my opinion, being a family or traveling with kids doesn't entitle you to special treatment. When I travel with my family I pay to pick seats, early check-in, extra space - whatever I think we might need. If you're not willing to pay for that then you can't afford the trip. Other travelers have also paid for those services and they don't owe you anything.

Your thought process is flawed. Only five years ago, these were basic accommodations part of customer experience. Not something you paid extra for. The fact that you think paying extra for them is acceptable is bizarre.

It still wouldn’t make it the responsibility of other passengers to deal with. The airline should be handling this.

[Anonymous]

I usually fly Southwest, where families have every opportunity to pay a bit more to choose whatever seats they want. Inevitably, there is some family that doesn't and then wants everyone to move around so they can sit together.

I was once asked to move from my aisle seat to the middle seat in the same row so the dad could sit on the aisle across from the mom and two kids. I said no. They were pissed. The mom tried twice to get the flight attendant to make me move. Fortunately, he wouldn't.

The minute the plane took off, the dad fell asleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I fly later this week to the UK with my 14-year-old. The airline has already changed our flights twice and we don't go to the airport until Friday. In addition to leaving 3 hours earlier on Friday, we are no longer sitting together on the flight back, since our original flight, with seats together that we paid for, is cancelled and no longer on the schedule. We are now in middle seats in different rows. The 14-year-old can obviously fly solo so we will cope, but if she were younger, I would be even more unhappy.

Airlines separated families prior to the pandemic (I have had it happen with aircraft changes and for no apparent reason, all times when we had assigned seats well in advance) and with the instability of flight schedules I bet it happens even more now. While I completely agree that the blame for this falls on the airlines, Mr/Ms Bulkhead and the columnist might consider that this problem is often not the result of "poor planning".

+1 this happened to us this way once - our flight with pre-paid seats together got canceled and they rebooked us with seats apart. My kids were little (5 and 2)and it was a non-starter to sit apart. They were able to resolve it at the gate before we got on the plane but we could have been in the position of asking ppl to move.

That said, I think it's common sense that you ask the people to move who have the least incentive to say no. If you can offer them an equally good seat, not a downgrade, they will almost always say yes.

[Anonymous]

Parents fault. Don't ask me to seat AFTER you get on a plane and refused to pay for your own seat choice.

The last two times I’ve flown, a steward asked me to change seats to accommodate a parent flying alone with small children. My moving would allow them to sit together. But I didn’t want to move! (They could have booked in advance, too.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like how the airlines nickel and dime everything these days and I don’t think you should have to pay extra to sit together. But as it is - if that’s the way it is - that’s the way it is. You don’t have to get up for a family to sit together but I like his suggestion to ask for an upgrade to do it.

Although the person asked to move shouldn’t have to ask for an upgrade — the airline should offer it, if it’s available, in appreciation for the passenger’s flexibility.

[Anonymous]

There are certainly rude families traveling, that is true. But NO AIRLINE should be charging families extra for a 3 year old to sit next to their parent.

Do you want to sit next to an unattended young child during a flight? I certainly do not. It definitely does seem airlines should accommodate them. But they won't, because they don't give a sh*t about customer service.

So once again: this is the airline's fault. They can SEE HOW OLD EVERYONE IS WHO BOOKS TICKETS. Having young children seated away from parents, and then begging people to move, should not be allowed at all. Either they need to take the responsibility to move GROWN UPS around, or they need to block some seats off for this scenario.

[Anonymous]

The airline is wrong, they should reserve those seats for parents with infants. That was also my experience flying with some airlines, those seats are blocked by airline. Would have saved all the trouble, parents asking and the man being put in this position of either losing his money or having to say no.

[Anonymous]

We could fix this if Congress just passed a law that required airlines to provide pre-booking of seats to families with a child under the age of 13 at no-cost. There should not be a fee for a family to select their seats in economy class so that they can ensure they sit together.

Of course, Congress wouldn't need to resort to this if airlines just had a modicum of responsibility toward their customers. If it's not explicitly legislated, they will degrade service and quality in the pursuit of another buck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like how the airlines nickel and dime everything these days and I don’t think you should have to pay extra to sit together. But as it is - if that’s the way it is - that’s the way it is. You don’t have to get up for a family to sit together but I like his suggestion to ask for an upgrade to do it.

Although the person asked to move shouldn’t have to ask for an upgrade — the airline should offer it, if it’s available, in appreciation for the passenger’s flexibility.

No, there's a strict algorithm for assigning upgrades--status, how much you paid for your seat, credit card use, etc. Flight attendants don't have the ability to circumvent these processes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We could fix this if Congress just passed a law that required airlines to provide pre-booking of seats to families with a child under the age of 13 at no-cost. There should not be a fee for a family to select their seats in economy class so that they can ensure they sit together.

Of course, Congress wouldn't need to resort to this if airlines just had a modicum of responsibility toward their customers. If it's not explicitly legislated, they will degrade service and quality in the pursuit of another buck.

As long as this doesn't give families the first shot at aisle seats. Families should be able to choose window and middles together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We could fix this if Congress just passed a law that required airlines to provide pre-booking of seats to families with a child under the age of 13 at no-cost. There should not be a fee for a family to select their seats in economy class so that they can ensure they sit together.

Of course, Congress wouldn't need to resort to this if airlines just had a modicum of responsibility toward their customers. If it's not explicitly legislated, they will degrade service and quality in the pursuit of another buck.

As long as this doesn't give families the first shot at aisle seats. Families should be able to choose window and middles together.

Why shouldn't they get to choose aisles?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are certainly rude families traveling, that is true. But NO AIRLINE should be charging families extra for a 3 year old to sit next to their parent.

Do you want to sit next to an unattended young child during a flight? I certainly do not. It definitely does seem airlines should accommodate them. But they won't, because they don't give a sh*t about customer service.

So once again: this is the airline's fault. They can SEE HOW OLD EVERYONE IS WHO BOOKS TICKETS. Having young children seated away from parents, and then begging people to move, should not be allowed at all. Either they need to take the responsibility to move GROWN UPS around, or they need to block some seats off for this scenario.

I totally agree with you. This is an airline problem that they are trying to shove off on the customers because it makes them so much extra money to charge for seating assignments.